Osaka pens George Floyd tribute for Esquire magazine

Moved to action—including joining protests on the streets of Minneapolis—after George Floyd's killing in that city, Naomi Osaka has a lot to say in these days. She's grown up a lot in two years' time, and she's the first to note it.

Now she has published a first-person piece on *Esquire* magazine's website regarding racial equality and unrest in not just the United States, but across the world, including her birthplace, Japan. Speaking to her native country's "very homogenous" population, Osaka certainly knows that of which she writes. She also notes the growth of its people, now readily welcoming the global presence and success that she and other biracial and intersectional athletes have carved out for themselves, and in representing Japan on various stages.

Intoning the words shared by many people of all backgrounds, Osaka wrote, "Being 'not racist' is not enough. We have to be anti-racist."

"Today’s protests have momentum and promise," she wrote. "This time, there is a different energy. Different faces are involved in the movement. It’s gone global—from Oslo to Osaka, from Tallahassee to Tokyo, protests have included people of all races and ethnicities. There were even Black Lives Matter marches in Japan–something many of us would never have expected or imagined possible."

Naomi's sister Mari Osaka recently wrote her own perspective piece, that directly to her sister for Glamour magazine. Therein, she said, "You taught me to never give up. You get in some really bad situations sometimes, and then you put on your game face and just grind through it. You don’t give up at all. Even if you complain, you’ll always be pushing through it."

At 22, Osaka finds herself poised to become, for decades, a voice of reason and perspective in intersectional matters the world over. Advantage, humanity.